The Light Root: Nutrition of the Future, a Spiritual-Scientific Study

Koberwitz, Whitsun 1924: Rudolf Steiner had just completed his momentous lecture course on biodynamic agriculture and was waiting for a car to take him to the station.Suddenly he was approached by two of his pupils with an urgent question: Would his new indications for treating soil and vegetables be sufficient to provide, '...nutrition appropriate to our times and in accordance with the spirit?' Steiner's frank response was somewhat surprising: 'It will not be sufficient even in the most favourable circumstances.What should be done is to cultivate the Dioscorea batatas in Europe so that it can take over from the potato as the staple diet.' In the many decades since that conversation, various attempts have been made to cultivate Dioscorea batatas - the 'light root' - in Europe, initially by Steiner's close colleague Guenther Wachsmuth.More recently, biodynamic farmer Ralf Roessner began to research the plant and its background, but soon discovered problems with the specimens available